The Community School District School Committee and Board of Trustees on March 26 reviewed both boards’ draft budgets, which show an increase of 8.32 percent. Superintendent Keith Laser broke down the $718,300 increase by town — a $128,440 or 4.59 percent increase for Boothbay Harbor and a $586,830 or 10.38 percent increase for Boothbay.

While board members highlighted an ideal three or four percent increase, after whittling away what they could over the past couple months, few solutions were identified.

Most of the extra costs involve benefits for teaching staff and one-time costs in maintenance and equipment for the schools, including kitchen equipment like a dishwasher, kettle-pot and steamer as well as duct cleaning, water pipe replacement, paving and roofing.

Laser told the boards the schools’ roof safety violations, which will cost $80,000 to $140,000 to fix, may not be necessary, though the boards should not yet count on removing those costs from the budget. Laser said Maine School Management Association is looking into regulations which strap around 80 percent of Maine's schools with the burden of expensive fixes.

The boards identified one possible cut in an addition of $160,000 to the debt service commitments. The addition was budgeted to get ahead of interest payment and to ease long-term burdens on the new loan or bond for Boothbay Region Elementary School’s HVAC upgrades. At committee members’ request, Laser will come back with projections on payments in the years ahead without adding to the debt service.

Said Laser, “We will do our best, but I think when we come back you're going to realize we're cutting into the bone.”

Gifted and talented

Committee members revisited possibly splitting Gifted and Talented teacher Emily Higgins’ salary between the program and the regular teaching staff, a proposal from Boothbay Region High School Principal Dan Welch. He said one of his science teachers may become curriculum coordinator. Higgins, formerly a science teacher at BRHS, may need to be among the science teachers to take on the resulting course load.

A state-mandated gifted and talented program  must continue. Committee member Bruce MacDonald said it does not add up if everyone agreed a full-time gifted and talented job was needed last year, but now it is necessary to potentially bring it down to half time.

Said MacDonald, “Is it just the dollar bill? We talked about this when we talked about lacrosse – the attractiveness of the schools. Are we cutting down on our attractiveness? … One of the nice things about gifted and talented is it rounded out our offerings, put some oomph into it for people that might be thinking about coming here.”

Higgins said she spends most of the day working with 27 students from kindergarten through grade 12 – three BRHS students on class subjects, every day during academic support time with at least one student, one classroom once per week, and one classroom twice per week.

Said Higgins, “There's a wide range of exactly what I do with different children. There are kids I spend three hours a week with one on one and there are kids I spend two hours a week with in groups of two to three. It ranges depending on the needs of the children and the needs of the grade.”

Curriculum coordinator

The curriculum coordinator would serve pre-K through grade 12 creating and maintaining a seamless curriculum within the CSD. Committee Chair Larry Colcord said the CSD showed interest last year, but the committee wanted to wait until Alternative Organizational Structure (AOS) 98 had a full-time superintendent. Asked if the coordinator would teach classes, Colcord said it would be up to the coordinator, superintendent and the principals.

“We need to give flexibility to our administrators, otherwise they're not going to be able to bob and weave as things change,” said committee member Peggy Splaine.  “And enrollment changes all the time.”

Welch said K-12 lacks a comprehensive curriculum because no full-time job is dedicated to that. BRES Principal Mark Tess added, the curriculum has been maintained and supported part-time by Assistant Principal Tricia Campbell, but with her primary duties, many things have been left to whoever can take them on.

Said Welch, “In the past, the curriculum coordinator was vital to professional development ...”